Nat Ford

Muni: Our Transit Agency Has Neglected Maintenance for Years

Ed Reiskin Is Muni's New Boss

Jim HerdIt's all yours, Ed​The Chronicle's sources are saying that Ed Reiskin will take the wheel of the Municipal Transportation Agency -- and our sources are saying their sources are right. This is not exactly a shocking development -- Reiskin has, all along, been the heir apparent. As of t ... More >>

Mayor Ed Lee Takes Public Dig at Former Muni Chief Nat Ford

Mayor Lee goes off script​Unlike his predecessor Gavin Newsom, Mayor Ed Lee hasn't run in the other direction when asked to participate in a public Q&A with the Board of Supervisors once a month -- although, he kinda has no choice. This public inquisition by his peers could be chock-full of pr ... More >>

Nat Ford's Goodbye Lunch

Appetizers! Nat Ford! Willie Brown! Who could ask for anything more? ​Staffers asked to kick down $20 to fund goodbye party of city's highest-paid employeeAs you tuck into your lunches today, be sure to raise a glass to Nat Ford. The did-he-quit-was-he-fired CEO of the Municipal Transportation Age ... More >>

Taxi and Muni Drivers Band Together to Plan Public Transit Strike

Aug. 2 is tentatively walk to work day​Though their City Hall protest last week successfully rustled some feathers (even Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi was riled up), cab drivers are already talking about staging an even bigger strike next month.This time, they want to join forces with Muni drivers to ... More >>

Leland Yee: Why He's Ahead in the Polls

People love to hate Leland and that always makes for a good front runner in a race​Last week, we detailed a story about how State Sen. Leland Yee is pro-medical marijuana -- until he's not. As SF Weekly reported, Yee attended a medical marijuana meeting, telling pot smokers that he supports them a ... More >>

If I Ruled Muni...

If I were king of the Muniiiiiiiiii...​Today is Nat Ford's last day atop Muni. His farewell party, however, is planned for the near future. In other words, Nat Ford's goodbye festivities will be late. Well, there you go.Folks around City Hall are saying Ford's soon-to-be-ex post is Ed Reiskin's to ... More >>

Pay Nat Ford His Money and Get Him Out of Here

Coming to take you away. Take you today. ​When it comes to Nat Ford, always we grumble. We grumbled about how much money he was paid to work. Now we're grumbling about how much he'll be paid to stop working and get the hell out of town. The lead rabble-rouser decrying Ford's $384,000 walkin' money ... More >>

Leland Yee: Drivers Could Park Three Days for Free at the Cost of Nat Ford's Severance Package

Wants three days of free parking ​Last week, City Attorney Dennis Herrera took what seems to be the first real potshot at a fellow mayoral candidate when he publicly said that he has better things to do than fight with Rush Limbaugh and ban shark fin soup. Anyone who has even barely scanned the he ... More >>

San Francycle: Will the New Bike Regime Get Critical Mass Under Control?

​So long, Nat Ford! This week, the man responsible for getting San Franciscans from point A to point B picked a Bike Coalition awards show to publicly discuss his departure. And you know, that was actually probably a good stage for him. Five years ago, when Ford was a fresh face in town, the con ... More >>

Nat Ford's Legacy

Jim HerdDid you know that missed runs don't count in Muni's on-time rate? Nat Ford did. ​Muni transports 700,000 riders a day, and every one of them's a critic. Local passengers -- and journalists -- come to bury Muni, not praise it. But it warrants mentioning that the journeys locals see fit to c ... More >>

Nat Ford, Muni Chief, Accused of Violating Ethics Laws

Did Nat Ford grant an inappropriate favor to his personal attorney?​Nat Ford, executive director of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, violated ethics rules when he moved to scuttle a lucrative parking garage contract in 2009, according to a new lawsuit."Ford violated the ethics co ... More >>

Muni Chief Nat Ford Is Here to Stay

Not going anywhere ... just yet ​Will Nat Ford leave San Francisco or will he stay? The suspense has finally come to an end, as it appears the Muni chief won't be packing his bags anytime soon. Instead, Ford will be lugging his suitcases back from D.C. where he has been this week while transit off ... More >>

Obama Budget Proposes $200 Million for S.F. Central Subway

Nat "Pro Shop" Ford​Muni boss Nat Ford on Monday praised Barack Obama for including $200 million in spending for the controversial Central Subway rail project as part of the president's federal budget proposal."The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency applauds President Barack Obama's pro ... More >>

Vandals Get Two Free Hours of Parking When They Break Meters

Motorists, start your sledgehammers!​Vandals who break meters will get rewarded with two hours of free parking under a new system being installed this spring, sf.streetsblog.org reports. According to the Metropolitan Transportation Agency, vandals are breaking between 240 and 450 parking meters ea ... More >>

Nathaniel Ford to D.C. Metro Story No Surprise for Muni Insiders

Luke Thomas, Fog City JournalGavin Newsom and Nat Ford 'are not buds,' SF Weekly is told. This photo could be Exhibit A. ​The D.C. Metro Transit Authority's placing of San Francisco Muni boss Nathaniel Ford on its list of potential leaders did not surprise several of Ford's colleagues SF Weekly sp ... More >>

Nathaniel Ford, Muni Boss, Headed to D.C. Metro?

Is Nat Ford taking his transit act to D.C.? ​First DPH Director Dr. Mitch Katz, now Nat Ford? We've reported on how Muni's new fare gates allow more people on the system than the agency would like. Will Muni compensate by having Nathaniel Ford get off? A Washington, D.C. radio station has reported ... More >>

Free Parking On Way Out for Muni, City Workers

​A broke city offering a small army of municipal employees free parking is a situation it appears will cease to exist in December. Muni workers were informed earlier this month in a memo by Municipal Transportation Agency director Nat Ford that, come the 12th month of the year, they'll have to she ... More >>

Dispute over who gets to run city parking garages leads to allegations of a shakedown

Muni CEO Nat Ford Allegedly Calls Mandatory Meeting in Wake of SF Weekly Story, Rails Against 'Snitches'

​It appears Municipal Transportation Agency CEO Nat Ford was less than thrilled with SF Weekly's Muni cover story this week. According to a source within the transit agency, on Wednesday, the day the story came out, Ford summoned all of Muni's top brass into his office -- 30, 40, or perhaps even m ... More >>

Muni Fail

Federal scrutiny could threaten funding for the Central Subway boondoggle.

Feds Imperil Central Subway Funding, Demand Proof it's No Boondoggle

Jim HerdWoosh -- gone?​Mayor Gavin Newsom and his public transit chief Nat Ford had the chance to hold an elaborate groundbreaking earlier this month for the $1.6 billion Central Subway light rail project. But a letter from a  top federal transportation bureaucrat suggests the festivities may ... More >>

'Signs' Point to Better Times Ahead for Cyclists

The tide is turning...​ For San Francisco's ever-growing cadre of bicyclists, this week opened with both good news and bad.On Monday, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter Busch postponed until Nov. 12 his decision on whether to allow the city to install bicycle improvements. San Francisco has ... More >>

Political Strategists Confident Extended Parking Meter Plan Is Dead -- But Maybe It's Only *Mostly* Dead

Can some manner of Miracle Max save the extended parking meter enforcement plan? ​In retrospect, the Municipal Transportation Agency's proposal to extend parking meter hours to 9 p.m. or midnight through swaths of the city and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays could have been more badly timed. This, ... More >>

The Meter Is Running: Municipal Transportation Agency Outlines Plan to Extend Parking Meter Hours -- Which Could Raise $9M for City

​Earlier today, the Municipal Transportation Agency unveiled the results of a study regarding its tentative plan to extend parking meter hours to weekday evenings and on Sunday. There's no shortage of details -- reporters were even handed a city map with "pink" and "teal" parking zones -- but whet ... More >>

Number of Muni-Related 311 Calls Going Down, Down Down -- But Service Is Still Billing Muni Same Amount ... For Now

Jim Herd​When it was disclosed in April that the 311 call center was charging the transit system millions of dollars for those "When's the next 38 Geary? I'm Cold!" calls, Muni boss Nat Ford pledged to begin pushing riders to begin calling the state-funded 511 line instead of the (Muni-funded) 311 ... More >>

Muni Looking to Declare War on Fare Evasion -- Will This Be Nat Ford's Vietnam?

Beware fare-evaders everywhere!Stating that fare evasion is rampant on Muni is akin to noting that the weather in San Francisco is sometimes hot, sometimes cold, and usually in-between. It's a statement of fact -- and there's little anyone can do about it. Or is there? At a recent public meeting Mun ... More >>

Police, Muni Alter Time and Space: 24 Hours Becomes One Month In Quantifying How Cops Bill Transit System

But can he make the buses run on time? Albert Einstein's famous -- and famously dumbed down -- explanation of his Theory of Relativity was "If you sit on a stove for a minute, it feels like an hour. If you sit next to a pretty girl for an hour, it feels like a minute." It warrants mentioning that, a ... More >>

Supes Punt MTA Budget Imbroglio To Special Meeting Next Wednesday

Oh, they're dragging this out...The ongoing rancor over the Municipal Transportation Agency's woeful budget has transformed into quite a cliff-hanger: First Board President David Chiu fired a shot across MTA and the mayor's bow by crafting legislation allowing the supes to scuttle the budget. Then, ... More >>

"19th Avenue: I Know, I Know, I Know." - Gavin Newsom's Message on Transit

By Benjamin Wachs I have to admit something before I begin: Gavin's ability to be boring is stronger than my ability to be funny. I'm slipping. I think I can hold the line for seven-and-a-half hours, but if he posts a sequel (perhaps "State of the City: Revolutions," or "State of the City: Attac ... More >>

Porkmistress Pelosi

Madam Speaker says she wants to tame pork-barrel spenders. Takes one to know one.